Resilient liner strip and burial casket construction



Nov. 23, 1965 w. l.. SLAUGHTER 3,218,688

RESILIENT LINER STRIP AND BURIAL GASKET CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 4, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NVENTOR.

W/LL/M L. SLA UGHE/ dwaal@ 4 4 e a w ATTORNEY NOV 23, 1965 w. L. SLAUGHTER 3,218,688

RESILIENT LINER STRIP AND BURIAL GASKET CONSTRUCTION 5 Sheeizs--SheefI 2 Filed Dec. 4, 1961 ls I4 3226 36 2o se b INVENTOR.

@of w/LL/AM L. 5ml/@Hrm 66 BY ATTORNEY NOV- 23, 1965 w. l.. SLAUGHTER RESILIENT LINER STRIP AND BURIAL GASKET CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 4. 1961 INVENTOR.

W/LL/M L. SLAUGHTEH 6W 74. gf

ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,218,688 RESILIENT LINER STRIP AND BURIAL CASKET CONSTRUCTION William L. Slaughter, Cincinnati, Ohio, assigner to '1`he Crane & Breed Casket Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a

corporation of (lhio Filed Dec. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 156,648 19 Claims. (Cl. 27-19) This invention relates to a burial casket land associated lining assembly such as may be employed 1n the finishing or decorating of burial caskets. l

As is custtomary in the art, a burial casket 1s usually lined or interiorly finished with the application of rather expensive and attractive lining material, which includes a skirt depending into the casket and a shrine hanging outside the casket to cover a portion of the casket front wall. The shrine during display of the deceased usually covers also a portion of the casket rim and the sealing gasket carried by the rim. At the end of the display period, the shrine is to be folded into the casket to eirpose the rim and the sealing gasket, so that the cap or hd rnay be closed upon the gasket for eff-ectm-g a seal.

An object of the present invention is to provide an 1mproved construction of burial casket and hnmg assembly, which permits a funeral director to convenlently substitute one upholstered liner for another, with a rmnimum expenditure of time and labor, and without requ1r1ng the services of skilled tradesmen such as upholsterers, cablnetmakers, mechanics or the like. This objective is of prime importance since it enables a funeral director to pernnt the bereaved family of the deceased to choose a particular interior from a number of interiors on hand, for prompt and easy application, by the funeral director and at his own establishment, to a particular casket selected lby the family. Such an arrangement greatly increases the available choice or selection of casket-interior combinanons, without requiring a large inventory of caskets, and this may be considered a further objective of the present 1nvention.

Another object of the invention is to provide an 1mproved construction of burial casket and liner therefor, for simplifying, expediting, and facilitating manufacture, with substantial savings of time, labor, and materials, and the minimizing of rejects incident to fabrication by mass production methods.

A fur-ther object is to provide a novel combmation shrine and skirt construction which may be completely prefabricated and thereafter associated with portions of the marginal flange of a casket body, and including effective means for securely though releasably anchoring the shrine and skirt combination to the casket body, while permitting the shrine to be disposed over the rim and front wall of the casket body when the lid or cap is elevated; and which shrine may 'be folded into the casket interior prior to closing the lid or cap in such a manner as to completely clear the sealing element provided between adjacent faces of the marginal rims of the body and lid, to facilitate proper sealing of the casket for interment.

Another object of the invention is to -provide an improved resilient mounting strip having a portion to which the skirt and shrine may be secured and another latching portion which is receivable between adjacent portions of a casket whereby to mount the lining material to the casket and effectively and neatly conceal the juncture of the lining material with the casket.

Another object is to provide improved means in a casket body rim for detachably anchoring the said mounting strip.

The foregoing and other objects are attained by the means described herein and illustrated upon the accompanying drawings in which:

3,218,688 Patented Nov. 23, 1965 ice FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken vertically through the front wall and rim of a burial casket and through a combination skirt and shrine about to be anchored to the casket rim, according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. l, but showing the anchorage completed, with the skirt of the liner depending inside the casket body while the shrine overlies the rim and front wall of the casket body.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing both the skirt and the shrine disposed within the casket b-ody preparatory to closing the cap or lid onto the body rim and the sealing element carried thereby.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmental cross-sectional view taken transversely through the resilient mounting strip and t-he various layers of fabric constituting the skirt and the shrine.

FIG. 5 is a perspective View showing a short section of the resilient mounting strip forming part of the present invention.

With reference to the drawings herein, 8 indicates the front wall of a metallic burial casket body, which at its open top may be turned outwardly at 10, then upwardly at 12, and inwardly at 14, to provide a hollow rim that may define the open top of the casket body. Upon the rim is adapted to rest a closure member or cap, not shown, which may be constructed in one or more parts depending upon Whether the casket is of the full couch type or the half couch type. In either case, the means of the present invention is applicable and advantageous in the respects as set forth in the preceding objects.

The uppermost inwardly turned portion 14 of .the body material may be properly referred to -as the sealer flange, since it usually carries a rubberlike or resilient sealer strip 16 upon which the casket cap may rest when in closed position. Marginally of the innermost portion of flange 14 is formed a downwardly lturned lip 18, the function of which is to retain the upholstery for the casket. Lip 18 is preferably, though not necessarily, coextensive with sealer flange 14 and may be continuous all around the perimeter of the casket at the open top thereof. The retainer lip terminates at its lower edge in a -free edge 20 which is straight by preference, and is at all points equally distant from the plane of sealer flange 16.

The character 22 indicates a substantially U-shaped channel or guide member having spaced substantially parallel legs 24 and 26, one of Which, such as 26, is fixedly secured to sealer flange 14. The opposed leg 24 meets leg 26 at a base or connecting portion 28 so as to form a trough 30 into which depends the free edge 20 of retainer lip 18. For convenience in securing leg 26 to the sealer flange 14, said leg may be provided with a lateral 1n tegral mounting flange 32 to be spot-welded or otherwise securely fastened to the underside of sealer flange 14, with leg 26 depending alongside the retainer lip 18.

While in the present embodiment the leg 26 is shown amply spaced from the retainer lip 18, this spacing is not cr1t1cal and might even be eliminated or at least greatly reduced in practice, if desired. It is important in the case of the other leg 24, however, that a predetermined spacing thereof from lip 18 be observed in order to provide a snugly receptive pocket 34 for accommodating a resilient mounting strip 36 presently to be described. Access to the pocket is gained by way of a throat 38 established between the upper free edge 40 of leg 24, and the lip 18 where it joins the flange 14. The elevation of edge 40 may approximate the level of the plane of flange 14, inthe preferred construction.

Resilient strip 36 is adapted to perform as an anchorage member for the shrine or overlay 42, and the skirt 44, mounted thereon by stitching 46 or other appropriate securing means. For convenience in mounting the shrine and skirt, the aforesaid resilient strip may be provided with a substantially fiat header band element 48 formed integrally therewith by preference, the entire str-ip with its header element being an extrusion of flexible rubber or other resilient material of the plastic group.

Along the edge of the strip opposite the header band element may be formed a bead 50 presenting a hook or shoulder 52 disposed laterally of the mean plane of the strip. The hook may be slightly barbed, as best illustrated upon FIG. 4, so as to assume a rather tenacious holding relationship with the retainer lip edge upon full insertion of the strip into the pocket 34, as shown in FIG. 3.

Extending from the body of the resilient strip 36 in a direction opposite to hook 52, is a resilient longitudinal pressure rib 54 adapted to bear against the inner Wall of pocket 34 provided by leg 24, for yieldingly maintaining hook 52 in engagement with lip edge 20 under normal conditions. However, should it be considered desirable or necesary to displace the anchored strip from the FIG. 3 latched position, the resiliency of rib 54 will permit llateral bodily displacement of the strip and its hook 52 away from depending retainer lip 18, using a blade or similar implement inserted from above between lip 18 and the strip body, thereby to permit lifting of the strip from pocket 34 so that the entire skirt and shrine assembly may be detached from the casket body. Thus, one skirt and shrine assembly may be quickly and easily substituted for another or different color or design according to the taste or wishes of a prospective purchaser.

A second resilient pressure rib 56 may be provided, if desired, to augment the latching force of hook 52, the second rib being preferably spaced from and parallel to the rib 54. It may be noted that the thickness of the resilient strip through the rigs 54 and 56 exceeds the spacing between lip 18 and leg 24, so as to ensure partial compression of the ribs when the strip is seated within pocket 34. This ensures a firm frictional gripping of the strip by the pocket walls, and a latching engagement of the hook 52 beneath the edge 20 of retaining lip 18. The pressure rib 54 nearest to the bead 50 and hook 52 is spaced from these elements so that a clearance is provided between the bead and the adjacent leg 24, permitting lateral displacement of hook 52 from retainer edge 20 and toward said leg 24, in the process of disconnecting the strip 36 and skirt-shrine assembly from the casket rim as above explained.

As is best illustrated by FIG. 3, the strip 36 at the base of header 48 is provided with a smooth upper ledge 58 of neat appearance, adapted to span the mounting strip pocket at its throat, so that when both the skirt and the shrine are disposed interiorly of the casket body as shown in FIG. 3, the throat of the pocket is completely sealed for presenting a neat nished appearance. The tiatl bearing face 60 `lof the mounting strip is held firmly against retainer lip 18 in the region of the pocket throat, by the yielding force of the uppermost pressure rib 56 bearing against leg 24. The upper edge of Aleg 24 will, of course, be concealed by the header 48 in the FIG. 3 relationship of parts.

The neat appearance provided as above mentioned, and the ease with which any shrine and skirt assembly may be substituted for another such assembly, are noteworthy advantages and improvements attributable to the present invention.

As was previously mentioned, the shrine 42 and skirt 44 are secured to the resilient mounting strip header in any suitable manner, as by means of stitching 46. The shrine may be constituted of a fine decorative sheet 62, usually backed by a sheet 64 of less expensive material, these sheets being arranged in bag formation to enclose `one or more blankets 66 of padding. Both faces of the shrine present sheeting such as 64 by preference. Hemming and stitching may be employed at 68 for joining the fabric sheets aforesaid at the free edge of the shrine. To provide a neat joint at the ledge 58 of the strip 36, the exposed decorative sheet 62 may be provided with a hem 70 separately stitched as at 72 to the header element 48.

The skirt 44 likewise may be of bag formation, to include padding material 74 enclosed by a sheath of common fabric sheet material 76 covered by an interior panel 78 of fine decorative sheeting which depends from the strip header to line the casket interior. Panel 78 may be integral with panel 62 if desired, as indicated `upon FIG. 4, so that the joint at 80 may be made neat in appearance.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a pleasing finished appearance of the liner assembly is obtained whether the shrine is disposed exteriorly of the casket as in FIG. 2, or interiorly thereof as in FIG. 3. In the FIG. 3 situation, the desired pleasing effect is retained due to the ledge 58, header 48, and hem 70 forming an effective continuous bridge across the throat of the pocket which accommodates the strip 36.

The sealer strip 16 generally is of a color compatible with the finish of the casket body rim, and may be fixed thereto by means of an adhesive bond. The character 82 indicates a hollow upstanding sealing bead against which the casket cap may seal when lowered to closing position. Additional sealing areas may be provided by the parallel -unstanding ribs 84. The sealer strip 16 may be formed principally or wholly of rubber or extruded resilient plastic material suitable for sealing purposes.

With particular reference now'to FIG. 5, it will be noted that the body portion 36 of the resilient liner strip includes a substantially vertical, flat, smooth inner wall 60 and an outer wall which is inclined outwardly from the lower end 50 of body portion 36. The lower end or edge of inner wall 60 terminates in and -is defined by a laterally projecting hook 52 which extends forwardly of and continuously along the lower edge of ythe inner wall of body portion 36.

The pressure ribs 54 and 56 project from the outer wall of said body portion as illustrated.

The header portion 48 projects upwardly from the outer wall of the body portion and defines a thin, flexible panel having parallel axial faces. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the header portion 48 projects upwardly from the body portion 36 by a dimension at least as great as the height dimension of the body portion. Uniformly satisfactory results have been obtained in those instances wherein the height dimension of body portion 36 has approximately S" and wherein the height of header portion 48 has been in the neighborhood of 3A".

It is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the structural details of the device, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A burial casket comprising a body having an upper rim of sheet metal, and means forming an open-topped pocket carried by said rim and a decorative resilient liner strip secured in ysaid pocket, said pocket including a depending retainer lip having a free lower edge and the liner strip bearing on one side thereof against a wall of the pocket and on the opposite side thereof having a Ipart underlying and engaged by said free lower edge of the lip and said retainer lip releasably latching the strip in position within the pocket.

2. A burial casket comprising a body having a sheet metal upper rim and an open-topped pocket depending therefrom, and a decorative resilient liner mounting strip secured in said pocket, a retainer lip depending from said rim into said pocket and having a lower free edge, the mounting strip having a part extending across and releasably engaged by said lip free edge, said pocket including a fixed leg spaced from the retainer lip in substantial parallelism therewith and spaced a distance therefrom less than the thickness of a part of the mounting strip lying between the leg and said lip and the said fixed leg compressing the strip flatwise against the lip.

3. A burial casket construction comprising in combination, a casket body including an upper rim, and a retainer lip depending from the rim interiorly of the body, said lip having a free lower edge parallel to the rim, a substantially U-shaped channel member including a rst leg depending along one face of the lip, and a second leg upstanding along and in spaced substantial parallelism with the opposite face of said lip to form therewith a pocket, said second leg having a free upper edge spaced from the lip to form a throat providing for access to the pocket, a srtip of resilient material removable secured in said pocket and comprising a body portion having an upper edge and a lower edge, a header element extending from said upper edge of the strip body, and a decorative member secured thereto, a laterally extending hook disposed along the lower edge of the strip body, said hook being releasably engagable with the free lower edge of the retainer lip upon advancement of the strip through the throat and to a predetermined extent ino the pocket of the channel member.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 3, wherein the strip body carries a resilient pressure rib extending therefrom in a direction opposite to the direction of extensi-on of the hook, the width of the strip and rib being greater than the width of the pocket, said rib adapted to exert a yielding force against the second leg of the channel member while the strip rests within the pocket aforesaid.

5. A burial casket construction comprising in combination, a casket body including an upper rim, and a retainer lip depending from the rim interiorly of the body, said lip having a free lower edge parallel to the rim, a substantially U-shaped channel member including a rst leg depending from the rim along one face of the lip, and a second leg upstanding in spaced substantial parallelism with -the opposite face of said lip to form therewith a pocket, said second leg having a free upper edge portion spaced from the lip to form a throat providing for access to the pocket, a resislient mounting strip removably secured in said pocket and comprising a substantially planar body portion having a upper edge and a lower edge, and a decorative member secured to said strip upper edge, an extending hook disposed laterally along the lower edge of the strip body, to engage the free lower edge of the retainer lip upon advancement of the strip bodily through the throat and to a predetermined extent into the pocket of the channel member, and a resilient pressure rib on the strip body extending therefrom in a direction opposite to the direction of extension of the hook, the width of the strip and rib being greater than the width of the pocket and the rib abutting the second leg of the channel member with a yielding force while urging the hook into engagement with the lower edge of the retainer lip.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5, wherein the face of 'the strip carrying the hook -is substantially at, so as to normally rest flatwise against the retainer lip under the yielding force of the pressure rib, while the hook is engaged with the lower edge of the retainer lip.

7. A burial casket construction comprising in combination, a casket body including an upper rim, and a retainer lip depending from the rim interiorly of the body, said lip having a free lower edge parallel to the rim, a substantially U-shaped channel member including a irst leg depending from the rim along one face of the lip, and a second leg upstanding in spaced substantial parallelism with the opposite face of said lip to form therewith a pocket, said second leg having a free upper edge portion spaced from the lip to form a throat providing for access to the pocket, a resilient mounting strip comprising a substantially planar body portion having an upper edge and a lower edge, and a decorative sheet secured to said strip upper edge, an extending hook disposed laterally from the strip body to engage the free lower edge of the retainer lip upon advancement of the strip bodily through the throat and into the pocket aforesaid, and means on the strip exerting a yielding force against the upstanding leg of the channel member, to yieldingly and releasably maintain the hook in engaging relationship with the free lower edge of the retainer lip.

8. The combination as set forth in claim 7, wherein the upper edge of the strip is provided with a ledge of such width as to substantially span the throat of the pocket when the strip is fully seated therein.

9. A burial casket construction comprising in combination, a casket body including an upper rim, and a retainer lip depending from the rim interiorly of the body, said lip having a free lower edge parallel to the rim, a substantially U-shaped channel member including a lirst leg depending from the rim along one face of the lip, and a second leg upstanding in spaced substantial parallelism with the opposite face of said lip to form therewith a pocket, said second leg having a free upper edge portion spaced from the lip to form a throat providing for access to the pocket, a resilient mounting strip comprising a substantially planar body portion having an upper edge and a lower edge, a flexible header element and an adjacent coextensive ledge disposed along the upper edge of the strip body portion, a shrine and a skirt fixed to the flexible header element adjacent to the ledge and adapted to drape a portion of the casket body, and means on the lower edge of the strip for releasably hooking onto the free lower edge of the retainer lip upon introduction of the strip into the pocket by way of the open throat, the ledge of the strip being of such width as to substantially bridge said throat when the strip is so introduced into the pocket.

10. The combination as set forth in claim 9, wherein the strip body includes a resilient pressure rib extending lengthwise of the ledge within the contines of the pocket, the width of the strip and rib being greater than the width of the pocket, for exerting an expansive force between the upstanding leg of the channel member and the depending retainer lip.

11. A decorative assembly for a burial casket having a rim pocket, comprising the combination of a skirt, a shrine, and a mounting strip, said strip being in the form of a resilient ilexible body in substantial strip form having an upper edge and a lower edge, a header element extending from said upper edge, means securing the skirt and the shrine to the header element, and a laterally extending hook disposed along the lower edge of the strip body for reception by the rim pocket of the casket.

12. The assembly as set forth in claim 11, wherein at the juncture of the body and the header element, the strip includes a ledge of such width as to substantially bridge the rim pocket.

13. A decorative assembly for a burial casket having a rim pocket, comprising the combination of a skirt, a shrine, and a mounting strip, said strip being in the form of a substantially flat body in strip form having an upper edge and a lower edge, a exible header element extending from said upper edge, means securing the skirt and the shrine to the header element, and a hook laterally extending from one face of the strip body along the lower edge thereof, said hook being resilient and deformable and adapted for reception by the rim pocket.

14. The assembly as set forth in claim 13, wherein the face of the strip opposite to the face bearing the hook, carries a resilient pressure rib substantially coextensive with the hook lengthwise of the strip and projecting in a direction substantially opposite to the direction of lateral projection of the hook, and the width of the strip and rib being greater than the width yof the pocket.

15. A decorative assembly for a burial casket having a rim pocket, comprising the combination of a skirt, a shrine, and a resilient, extruded mounting strip, said strip being in the form of an elongate substantially at body in strip form having an ripper edge and a lower edge, means securing the skirt and the shrine to a portion of the body adjacent to the upper edge thereof, and a lateral projection of liexible resilient nature coextensive with and adjacent to the lower edge vof the strip body, and developed to hook formation in cross-section.

16. The `assembly as set forth in claim 15, wherein the hook formation is barbed, and pointed in the direction of the upper edge of the strip.

17. A decorative assembly for a burial casket having a rim pocket, comprising the combination of a skirt, a shrine, and an extruded, resilient mounting strip, said strip being in the form of an elongate strip Wedge shape in cross section and having an upper edge and a lower edge and inner and outer walls, means securing the skirt and the shrine to a portion of the strip at the upper edge and adjacent to the outer wall thereof, and means along the lower edge of they strip to releasably secure the strip within the rim pocket of the casket.

18. A continuous, extruded, resilient liner strip comprising an elongate body portion and an upwardly projecting header portion, said body portion being wedge shape in cross section and having a wide upper edge surface and a lower edge and having inner and outer Walls, the lower edge of said inner wall terminating in a forwardly projecting lip disposed along the lower edge of said body portion, the said upwardly projecting header portion being in the form of a band of relatively thin cross section as compared to the thickness of said body portion and of vertical width at least as great as the height dimension of said body and extending from said upper edge along the outer wall, and at least one elongate, continuous resilient pressure rib projecting from `the outer wall of said body portion intermediate its lower edge and the header portion.

19. An elongate, continuous, resilient liner strip comprising a body portion and a header portion, said body portion including a substantially vertical, at, smooth, inner wall and an outer wall which is inclined outwardly from the lower end of said body portion, the lower edge of said inner wall terminating in a laterally projecting hook disposed along the lower edge of said body portion, at least one continuous, resilient pressure rib projecting from the face of the outer wall of said body portion at a location between said lower edge and the header portion, said header portion projecting upwardly from and as a continuation of the outer wall of said body portion and defining a relatively thin flexible panel as cornpared to the thickness of the body portion and of a height at least as great as the height dimension of the said body portion.

References .Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,250,704 '7/ 1941 Donnelly 27-19 2,664,615 1/1954 Hillenbrand et al 27-19 2,679,077 5/ 1954 Immel et al. 20-69 2,685,641 8/1954 McDowell.

2,718,687 9/1955 Woltering 27--19 2,836,876 6/1958 Ziegler 27-6 2,848,782 8/1958 Gillison 27-1'7 3,039,168 6/1962 Robinson 27-6 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Examiner. 

1. A BURIAL CASKET COMPRISING A BODY HAVING AN UPPER RIM OF SHEET METAL, AND MEANS FORMING AN OPEN-TOPPED POCKET CARRIED BY SAID RIM AND A DECORATIVE RESILIENT LINER STRIP SECURED IN SAID POCKET, SAID POCKET INCLUDING A DEPENDING RETAINER LIP HAVING A FREE LOWER EDGE AND THE LINER STRIP BEARING ON ONE SIDE THEREOF AGAINST A WALL OF 